A psychometric evaluation of the hope-action inventory in a sample of individuals with a history of problematic substance use

Barriers to an individual’s career development often accompany and compromise substance use recovery. Research indicates that hopefulness can provide positive employment and substance-related outcomes in recovery. As such, a measure that can be used to assess the strength of career-hope and its related competencies would yield meaningful advantages. The objective of the present study was to examine the dimensionality, reliability, construct replicability, and convergent/discriminant evidence of validity of the Hope Action Inventory (HAI; Niles et al., 2010). Grounded in the Hope Action Theory (HAT; Niles et al., 2010), the HAI is used to measures levels of action-oriented career-hope (the total score; HAI-T) and its related competencies (hope, self-reflection, self-clarity, visioning, goal setting and planning, implementing, and adapting). The hope competency (HAI-H) represents the most theoretically meaningful subscale and offers important implications for individuals in substance use recovery. Therefore, the present study examined the psychometric properties of the HAI-T (and dependent on results, the HAI-H) in a sample of adults (n = 312) with a history of problematic substance use. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the theorized unidimensional factor structure of the HAI-T, which is necessary to justify the common practice of taking a total score. Given that the unidimensional model did not accurately represent the data based on the CFA, an exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the presence of an essentially unidimensional factor structure for the HAI. Further, given that the essentially unidimensional structure was supported, the reliability of the total score and construct replicability of the underlying construct of action-oriented career hope were assessed. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the HAI-T was also assessed using various measures of similar and dissimilar constructs. Excellent reliability, excellent construct replicability, and supportive evidence of convergent and discriminant validity were provided for the HAI-T. As such, the psychometric properties of the HAI-H were not examined. The psychometric support provided for use of the HAI-T in the present study offers mental health practitioners and researchers with a valid and reliable tool to assess for levels of career-hope in individuals with a history of problematic substance use.